1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to zirconia-containing transparent and electrically conducting oxide films of indium (In.sub.2 O.sub.3) and tin (SnO.sub.2) and the preparation thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Transparent and electrically conducting oxides of indium and tin are widely used for variety of applications such as antistatic coatings, light emitters, light detectors and light triggered semiconductor devices, electrodes for flat panel displays and electrochromic devices, solar cells, heat mirrors, smart windows, and the like. The transparent and conducting oxides are wide band-gap semiconductors whose properties depend strongly on the oxidation state (stoichiometry) and on the nature of and quantity of impurities trapped in the film. The properties of transparent and conducting oxide films are very sensitive to the deposition technique, the deposition parameters, the properties of the sputtering target and the post deposition treatment. Transparency of the films is affected by absorptivity, reflectivity and emissivity. These losses are related to the microstructure and surface roughness of the films.
Indium-tin oxide, which is an alloy of 90 weight % indium oxide and 10 weight % tin oxide, has problems with respect to chemical stability at temperatures above about 400.degree. C. Indium oxide (In.sub.2 O.sub.3) and tin oxide (SnO.sub.2) are stable at room temperature and up to about 400.degree. C. but are unstable above about 400.degree. C. This means that being semiconductors, resistance in these oxides declines with temperature until about 400.degree. C. when, due to what is believed to be chemical instability, resistance of In.sub.2 O.sub.3 and SnO.sub.2 reverses itself and starts to increase with higher temperature.